Debiasing architectural decision-making: a workshop-based training approach

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that a workshop-based training can effectively reduce cognitive biases in architectural decision-making among software practitioners, improving reasoning processes.

Contribution

It provides the first empirical evidence that a simple workshop can mitigate biases in architectural decisions.

Findings

Most teams improved their reasoning after the workshop

The workshop was effective across different team configurations

Debiasing is an attainable goal in architectural decision-making

Abstract

Cognitive biases distort the process of rational decision-making, including architectural decision-making. So far, no method has been empirically proven to reduce the impact of cognitive biases on architectural decision-making. We conducted an experiment in which 44 master's degree graduate students took part. Divided into 12 teams, they created two designs - before and after a debiasing workshop. We recorded this process and analysed how the participants discussed their decisions. In most cases (10 out of 12 groups), the teams' reasoning improved after the workshop. Thus, we show that debiasing architectural decision-making is an attainable goal and provide a simple debiasing treatment that could easily be used when training software practitioners.